The Relationship Between Student Academic Achievement and the School Board and Superintendent Responsibilities

Abstract:

The California and federal governments have enacted legislation to improve student academic achievement with a focus on allocating resources to the classroom and teacher. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a relationship exists between student academic achievement and the responsibilities of school boards and superintendents. Each responsibility contains a subset of district and school-level practices implemented by the board or superintendent. This author (see Appendix E) designed the District Index of Similar Schools Rankings (DISSR) to measure student achievement in an attempt to limit the impact of school and student characteristics on scores of state-mandated assessments. This study also determined whether a relationship exists between student academic achievement and the tenure of superintendents in their current district. This study took a quantitative approach to measure relationships between student academic achievement and superintendents' perceptions of district effectiveness regarding the school board and superintendent responsibilities. A relationship between student academic achievement and the tenure of superintendents in their current district did not exist. However, a relationship was found between student academic achievement and length of time a superintendent had been a school administrator. This study established a relationship between student academic achievement and school board and superintendent responsibilities.